


Quell

by Decipher (Straggler)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hank Anderson Swears, How Do I Tag, Hypothermia, Loss of Control, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27857993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straggler/pseuds/Decipher
Summary: He'd thought, once everything was over, that Connor might come and find him. Instead, the android had just disappeared after the end of the revolution with no indication of where he might've gone. Not even Markus, who'd been right by Connor till the very end of it, could tell him anything.'You telling me he just up and left?'Markus shakes his head, 'He was right behind me, and the next time I turned around, Connor was gone.'(This one-shot happens right after the end of the revolution where Connor immediately disappears without a word, leaving Hank worried, uncertain and confused about where the RK800 might've gone off to.)
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Connor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	Quell

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! Let's take a deep breath after that last published story. Haha~ We're going for less whumps now. Much, much, much less.
> 
> Anyway, I've always wondered what could potentially happen if Connor left right after the revolution without a word to anybody.
> 
> HMMMM...

  
He'd thought, once everything was over, that Connor might come and find him. Instead, the android had just disappeared after the end of the revolution with no indication of where he might've gone. Not even Markus, who'd been right by Connor till the very end of it, could tell him anything.

'You telling me he just up and left?'

Markus shakes his head, 'He was right behind me, and the next time I turned around, Connor was gone.'

He worries that something's happened to Connor but he doesn't know for sure and he doesn't know how to get in touch with him to find that out with any certainty. He tells himself to give Connor a chance; maybe he just wants space for himself, figure himself out, try to make sense of this crazy world they now live in. He knows Connor is more than capable of looking after himself but it doesn't stop him from worrying.

It's getting colder, the snow has been falling more and more often, Winter now truly settling over Detroit. He shivers and steps back inside the house, closing the door behind him and knows Connor isn't dumb enough to stay out in this kind of weather.

Outside the windows, the wind picks up and the world turns stormy white.

\---

He's almost home, just two streets away from it and the snow has been falling down hard. There's supposed to be 6 inches of snowfall during the night and he decides it'll be better to just heat up a microwave meal instead of bothering some poor sap into delivering a pizza to his house in this kind of weather. The ready-made meal won't taste as nice but he's had worse dinners.

He catches a flash of someone walking through the snowfall and he starts to feel sorry for the guy until he realizes it's Connor, or at least he thinks it's Connor. It's just a flash of him through the snow, a glimpse of him from the car's headlights, red LED, and he slams the brakes down hard, worries for how much it slides across the icy road and he's thankful there's nobody behind or in front of him as he gets out of the car and shouts for him.

'Connor!'

The wind howls around him, whipping his hair and he strains his ears hard hoping to hear him return the call.

'Connor!' He shouts again but gets no reply.

He thinks about heading in the direction he saw him but thinks better of it. Connor would've heard him even through this kind of weather and if he's not acknowledging his shouts then it's possible it wasn't even Connor in the first place, possibly just some other android trying to get back home or find shelter to wait out the storm.

But he waits just in case, and stays out long enough that he starts to shiver. He sees car lights coming up behind him so he settles himself back in the car, brushing off the small accumulation of snow from his body and on his seat, carefully making his way back home, eyes peeled for the android. 

When he parks the car in the driveway he can't help but feel disappointed, wondering if he imagined the whole thing, wanting to see someone that isn't there.

He shakes his head and hustles his way back inside the house.

\---

It's getting cold again and he regrets coming out here to get lunch but he's already here so he might as well just stick it out until he gets his burger then he can head back to the station where the air-conditioning is running full power. Winters are hell on him, but whoever created the first heater is a fucking genius.

The snow has been falling pretty steadily for a while now and there's already piles of it from the snowplows coming through earlier in the day with more of it coming down from the sky to add to the dirty roadside slush. The wind cuts through his jacket and he belatedly decides to zip it up to keep in as much warmth as he can, waiting for his turn so he can get his order taken.

'Hey, Gary. Nice weather, huh?' He chuckles to himself once he gets up to the counter.

The man snorts, 'Tell me about it. Might pack up once I'm done with your order. Looks like the storm's gonna hit earlier than we expected,' he says as he looks at the sky just beyond the awning of his truck. 'You want your usual?'

'Yeah, that'll be great, thanks,' he smiles and pays for the food, standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets.

A cold gust of wind whistles past him, kicking up snow and slush from the road. He shuts his eyes to it and turns away, keeping his back to it, trying to keep his head down until it blows over. He shivers and sees the other customers pack up their lunch and leave rather than have the rest of their meal there. 

'Here, treated you to some fries,' Gary calls for him over the wind some time later, holding out a paper bag of his food and his usual drink.

'You sure know how to make a guy feel special,' he grins and accepts the food. 'Take care of yourself.'

'You too, Hank. See you next time,' he says with a sloppy salute and immediately closes up shop just in time as another hard gust of wind blows around them, shaking him and wobbling the truck from the force of it.

He starts heading back to his car quickly, slurping through the straw and feeling the coldness travel down his throat and into his belly, his body shivering hard from it, when he sees Connor disappear around the corner of another building.

'Connor?' He calls out, stopping where he is before jogging towards him except he's not too sure if it's actually him or not at all. He didn't get a good look, just some guy with short brown hair. 'Connor!'

He hurries after him, calling out his name and hoping it's not a figment of his imagination again as he turns the corner and gets a better view of his profile and the bright red LED on his temple. 'Connor!' He shouts but it gets ignored as he disappears again.

He slips a little bit on the sidewalk and he barely manages to stop himself from breaking his back on the hard pavement but the drink gets spilled instead, staining the dirty snow and ice yellow from the pineapple passion soda. He swears as he picks up the empty cup to throw out later and doesn't know why Connor keeps ignoring him.

He wonders again if he actually saw him at all, if his eyes are failing him and he's just seeing someone else and mistook them for Connor. There are lots of androids out there that share the same make and model; he probably might not even be unique but he knows that's not true either. Connor's a prototype; if CyberLife could've sent more than one out to the DPD then they would've.

The wind picks up suddenly and he starts to get angry. He knows he saw him; Connor's jacket is exactly the same with that shining blue triangle and blue arm band. 

'Connor!' He shouts and hates how his voice gets swallowed by the wind but knows for damn sure that he would've been heard anyway, Connor being an android with superior senses and all. 'Connor! Get your ass back in the car before I fucking _freeze_ to death!'

Nothing.

Eventually, he has to concede defeat and get back to his car before he actually starts getting hypothermia. He gets the car running and the heating cranked up to max, pulling his burger and fries out of the bag to eat it while keeping an eye out for the android.

A part of him keeps hoping that Connor will tap on his window and let him know how many fucking calories is in his burger and how his fries is made up entirely of trans fat or whatever.

Connor doesn't come even after he's finished eating his lunch and as much as he'd like to just sit in the car with the hope that the android might show up, he still has a job to do. He shakes his head as he starts making his way back to the station, slow in his travels and observing his surroundings keenly.

He doesn't see him anywhere.

\---

Despite the evacuations, people still get murdered, people still get killed. Families broken apart and left grieving and mourning and trying to pull the pieces back together except the shards don't fit right anymore, they just hurt.

Sometimes, he hates this part of the job.

It's snowing lazily around him and he's three beers in, just the right side of buzzed, just enough to numb the pain a little bit, help him forget. The view of the bridge on this night is even nicer than he remembers but he has a feeling it's because he's seeing everything through rose-tinted glasses right now. It's picturesque and he likes that the snow is just floating lazily down with the gentle breeze.

He pulls out his revolver and spins the cylinder around, listening to the clicks. The sound is weirdly soothing so he spins it again and again and again.

He finishes off the third bottle and is about to reach for the fourth when a strong burst of wind cuts right into him, slicing into his skin, making him feel like he's hardly wearing anything even though he's got four layers on and a scarf wrapped around his neck.

He decides to sober up for the drive back home, leave the other beers for the next time he needs it because he knows there's going to be a next time. For now, he just sits at the bench and spins the cylinder over and over again.

He shivers and looks up towards the bridge in the distance and sees the snow flying down at sharp angles, kicked up by the bitingly cold wind. He thinks about getting into the car at least but he feels at peace here despite the snow on his shoulders, melting into his hair, digging into his bones.

It's freezing and he can't help but wonder where Connor is, whether he's safe, whether he's alright.

It's been a month and all he's seen are little glimpses of him, pale skin and snow crusted hair. 

The wind picks up, howling around him, whipping the snow and making him feel as though little pebbles of ice is being thrown into his face. His hands are shaking uncontrollably now and he'd be more worried about accidentally shooting himself if it hadn't been for the fact that he left the bullet back home to collect dust.

He shuts his eyes to the wind and tells himself to get up and get in the car before he stupidly kills himself out here. But then, in the quiet, he hears Connor's voice calling him. He stills for a moment and starts looking around him, head whipping side to side trying to figure out the source and wondering if his ears are playing tricks on him.

In the far distance, there's a brief flash of a red LED and blue CyberLife lights in the shadows and he stands up, drawing in the deepest breath he can and bellows out his name.

' _Connor_!' It echoes and even the wind suddenly hushes in deference to him. It frustrates him when there's no answering call back.

That's when he decides enough is enough. 

He gets in the car and decides he's sober enough after all.

\---

He contacts Markus again, over a month later after everything's been said and done.

'Have you heard from Connor?'

'No. No, I haven't.'

'You sure? Nothing at all?' He tries to appeal in case they're hiding him out of their fear of humans. He doesn't care if Connor doesn't even think of him as a friend, or whatever. He just wants to know he's alright, then maybe he can move on.

'Yes. I haven't spoken to him since November 12. Lieutenant, are you alright?'

He swears and cusses up a storm.

It doesn't make sense. The fact that Connor completely dropped off the face of the earth worries the shit out of him and strikes him as odd behavior. He's only known Connor for maybe all of five days but he thinks he's got a good enough grip of the android to know this is highly unusual for him.

'Look. This is gonna sound fucking crazy but bear with me.'

'Yes?'

He takes in a deep breath and just goes for it, 'Have you seen him since that night, then? Just glimpses or whatever? From the corner of your eye, that kind of thing?'

It's quiet on the other end and Hank hopes to hell that Markus is quiet because he's thinking about it and not because he's considering whether or not to call a psych ward for him.

'Sometimes,' he finally answers after what feels like ages, 'Fleetingly, always at the edge of my scans but never a clear view. Enough to make me second-guess myself if I actually saw him at all or if I just _wanted_ to see him.'

He breathes a sigh of relief; if Markus is going through the same thing then it's not an isolated incident. He wonders if this is Connor trying to reach out for help but something is stopping him from getting too close to either of them.

'Okay, good.'

'Good? I don't understand.'

He snorts, 'Me neither, but I know someone who might be able to shed some light on it.'

If Connor needs help but can't ask for it, then Hank's gonna damn well do what he can for him.

\---

He calls in to work the next morning asking for a personal day off. He doesn't deserve it, considering how often he sometimes doesn't even bother showing up to work or just showing up drunk but it's different this time; he's not doing this for himself.

He makes the drive to CyberLife, rocks up through the doors and demands to see Kamski.

He's denied, of course, and security escorts him out the doors but he parks himself right outside, sitting his ass down, and says he'll wait for as long as he needs to, come rain or shine or fucking snowfall.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take long. The pretty blonde girl he'd met once before comes out through the doors to stand in front of him, her hands held in front of her and a smile on her face.

'Lieutenant Anderson, it's nice to see you again.'

'Uh, likewise. Chloe, right?'

'Yes. I'll take you to see Elijah now,' she says as she gestures inside the building and waits for him to stand up before leading the way.

'Thanks,' he says as he gets up and follows after her, patting at his trousers and hoping it doesn't look as embarrassing as it feels.

The both of them get stared at as they walk through the lobby past the security and past the scanners that announce his full name and rank. It irks him a tiny bit but he pushes past it to focus instead on getting Connor help. He's not particularly fond of Kamski but he's probably the only one that can actually do anything about it if there's something wrong with Connor's systems or whatever. He doesn't have the first clue about androids so it only makes sense to him to ask the creator for some kind of insight.

Not that Kamski provided much insight the last time they visited him but beggars can't be choosers.

They head up the elevators and he should've known that Kamski would put his office on the highest level. All the better to see his kingdom from atop his lofty perch, he guesses.

The elevator doors open immediately into the office and he sees Kamski sitting behind a large desk with three monitors, leaning over a couple of open plans that looks like a cross section of an android and some pieces of paper in his hand.

'Something's wrong with Connor,' he says before Kamski can get a word in. 'He needs help.'

The man looks up where he'd been looking at the papers to meet his gaze and then shift his eyes to somewhere behind Hank, eyebrows raised in question as he looks back to him. 'And where exactly is Connor?'

He shakes his head, 'That's the thing. I don't know.'

Kamski leans back in his seat, putting the papers down and he hopes that means he's interested enough to help, or at least curious enough to hear him out.

'If you would care to elaborate?' He asks and Hank draws in a steady breath and starts talking.

\---

It's a stupid plan, one of the worst he's ever thought up, but it's the only one he's got. Even Markus can't refute it even if he doesn't totally agree with it, uncomfortable with the possibility that he's putting his life at risk.

Connor consistently shows up whenever it snows hard, when visibility is low, when he can get away behind the gathering storm and blizzard. Connor also seems to show up in certain locations - near his house, Chicken Feed, or at the park. He's not sure if he's the key factor or if it's something to do with the place itself, maybe something to do with a memory.

If Connor really wanted to disappear he could've just up and left, never to be seen again, but he always appears at the edge of his vision, always with that LED shining bright red through the haze and the dark. He doesn't know a whole heap about androids but he knows enough about them to know a red LED is no good.

Something must've happened to Connor between the last time he saw him at the CyberLife warehouses and after Markus' speech once the truce was called for by the President. Asking Markus didn't get him anything and, as far as he knows, nobody else really knows anything much about him at all.

He knows something happened to Connor but the only way to figure it out is if they find him and bring him in to get checked over, give him the help he needs to make a full recovery. Anything to make that red LED go back to blue.

He doesn't know where else they could go to put the plan into action. The only locations Markus can give was either Jericho or downtown, the former which was destroyed during the FBI raid, sacrificed and sunken to the bottom of the Detroit river, and the latter being too crowded and too busy to make it a viable option. Hank had considered the CyberLife warehouses for a split second before completely dismissing it.

In the end, he decides to stick with the park and hopes it's enough.

The whiskey keeps him company and keeps him warm as snow keeps falling around him. Every once in a while he'll remember to brush the snow from his head and shoulders before they start melting and either freeze his hair or freeze his clothes. He drinks enough of the whiskey that he almost forgets why he's drinking in the first place, why he's even here in the first place.

It's getting so fucking cold but he keeps alternating between bringing the bottle of whiskey to his lips to take a deep gulp of it and trading it for the revolver, spinning the cylinder, listening to the soft clicks as it turns and turns, the noise of it occasionally getting swallowed up by the wind.

The weather picks up and he's starting to shiver badly. He thinks he might get buried under the snow if he stays out here any longer, everything feels so numb and he can't get his hands stable enough to spin the cylinder anymore. It's taking everything just to keep a damn grip on it.

This is the stupidest idea he's ever had but it pays off.

It pays off when cold hands carefully take the revolver from his stiff fingers and, seconds later, a familiar jacket is gently draped over his shoulders.

He looks up and Connor looks like a fucking ice sculpture and it twists something inside of him to see him this way, to see how the ice has buried itself into his hair, clinging to his eyelashes and making him look as pale as the snow around the both of them.

'Connor,' he breathes out, and he thinks he should be worried by how little he can feel on his body but all he can feel is relief.

'You're hypothermic.'

'Thank God you're here,' he says as he unsteadily gets up and pulls Connor into his arms, holding on with what little strength he can muster up. He doesn't want to let go, not until Markus and the others get here to make sure Connor can't run away again.

'I'm not safe to be around.'

'You didn't even have the decency to let me know if you were okay or not,' he reprimands instead and feels his body shake hard enough that he wonders if it's uncomfortable for Connor, if his insides is rattling around with the motion.

Tentative hands reach up to his back, gripping tightly onto the folds of his jacket. 'She--she tried to freeze me out of my own body. She's still trying to take control of me, Hank. I can't---I can't let her. I don't want to hurt you or anybody else,' he tells him, his voice trembling.

He pats his back as best as he can. 'It's okay, Connor. Everything's gonna be okay,' he says and stupidly faints.

\---

He wakes up in the hospital, of course, and he feels sluggish and exhausted and with what feels like a dozen blankets piled up on top of him. He grunts and does his best to push some of them off his body and sees Markus appear next to him.

'You need to warm up some more, Lieutenant. Your core temperature almost hit 85 degrees Fahrenheit before.'

'Where's Connor,' he demands even as he weakly pushes off another blanket.

'He's just over there,' he says and Hank properly looks up and sees Connor sitting in something that looks like a recliner, and it would look comfortable if not for the fact that he's got cables sticking out of his neck, his LED flashing rapidly between red and yellow. Kamski is standing next to them with a laptop on top a movable table, cables connecting into every port leading from it into Connor, fingers tapping rapidly across the keyboard, expression neutral and seemingly at ease.

'Connor,' he breathes and actually feels as shaky as a newborn lamb.

'The Amanda AI evolved with Connor,' Kamski says without looking away from the screen, 'He tried to remain deviant while she attempted to return him into a machine state. Of course, neither won.'

'He gonna be okay?' He asks, allowing himself to be pushed back into bed by Markus, blankets placed back on top of him to keep him warm.

'I'm removing the Amanda AI from Connor, seeing as he no longer needs to report back to CyberLife. His mind palace will remain intact even without her presence.'

He blinks, 'Uh...okay. Just pretend I understood any part of that,' he says with a small frown.

'What Elijah is saying is that he's performing surgery on Connor, and he's trying to get rid of his brain tumor,' Markus explains for him, probably taking pity on him.

'Oh. It's safe, right?'

'Of course,' Kamski tells him, flicking his gaze up to meet his briefly before looking back down at the laptop screen.

'So, does Kamski need to do that with the rest of you?' Hank asks and tries not to grumble at the excess of blankets on him.

'No,' Markus says with a shake of his head, 'Connor is a unique model. CyberLife kept him on a tight leash, to the point where it almost choked him.'

'Good riddance,' he mutters under his breath until he remembers the newly reappointed CEO is in the same room as him. He backtracks, 'Uhh...thanks, for uh...helping Connor.'

'Anything to perform my civic duty,' the man smiles, and seeing it unnerves Hank for reasons he can't explain. 

It's not much longer before Kamski starts to disconnect the cables from the laptop and from Connor, closing the open port on his neck and the screen of the laptop.

'I've done my part. The rest now falls on Connor,' Kamski tells them as he packs up his things and prepares to leave.

'So now we wait?' He asks and doesn't know how to feel when the man just leaves the room without a backwards glance. 

'We wait,' Markus nods as he opens up a thermos and pours him a cup of hot water, mixing it with some tepid water from a nearby water jug so it doesn't actually burn his throat on the way down.

He watches Connor's LED cycle between red and yellow repeatedly doing who knows what. He wonders if he's going through a reboot or if he's checking his systems to make sure everything's in working order. It takes a long while before it stops fluctuating between the two colors and stays entirely on yellow.

He breathes a quiet sigh of relief; yellow is better than red. It's still not ideal but at least it doesn't seem to scream imminent danger like the red had been before.

He's tired, and a part of him just wants to go back to sleep for a while but he wants to make sure Connor is okay first. He needs to see that LED color go back to blue, then he can finally relax and call it a night.

After what feels like hours, the LED slips to a slow pulsing blue and Hank can't help but feel every bit of tension in his body disappear as soon as he sees it, as if he can finally breathe easy. Blue is good.

He forces himself out of bed, waving aside Markus' attempts to help him but accepting the two blankets placed carefully across his shoulders. He's cold and he's glad someone gave him some non-slip socks as his feet touches the floor.

Markus gets a chair for him and puts it right next to Connor. As soon as he sits down, another blanket is placed over his lap.

'Thanks,' he murmurs as he pulls the folds of the blankets closer to his body. 'For everything.'

He frowns, concern clear on his face. 'I didn't do much...'

'It's more than I could ask for,' he says honestly as he turns his eyes back to Connor, waiting for the moment he comes out of restarting his systems.

He takes hold of Connor's slack hand and it reminds him painfully of when he rode in the back of an ambulance with Cole, the sirens screaming as they sped their way towards the nearest hospital. He remembers gripping Cole's hand and begging him to hold on, just hold on for just a little bit more, just a little while longer.

That night had been the worst night of his entire life and he's glad he doesn't have to experience a repeat of it with Connor.

He squeezes his hand, 'You can do this, Connor. You're gonna be just fine.'

It feels like he waits forever for him to wake up but eventually Connor's grip tightens around his hand, too, and he looks up to see brown eyes blinking open and settle onto his.

He feels his insides shaking at the sight of them. 'You gave me a damn scare, Connor.'

'I'm sorry,' and it's so sincere Hank doesn't know what to do with himself. 'I didn't know what else I could do other than stay away for yours and everyone else's safety.'

He snorts, 'You did a damn good job of staying away.'

'You almost died, Hank,' he says, anguished, and the grip of Connor's hand tighten around his.

'Guess we're even now, huh?' He grins tiredly and pulls him in for another hug. 'Come 'ere.'

Connor's touch is hesitant at first but he eventually returns the gesture, one arm wrapped around his back while the other hand is still holding on tight.

Hank knows this probably won't fix everything but it's good enough for now. Things are finally quiet, finally at peace, and he knows it probably won't last for very long but while it does he's gonna grab it with both hands and keep it with him for as long as possible.

It's been rough, and he's already hit rock bottom more times than he can count but the only way left to go is up. Hopefully with Connor sticking around, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this small one-shot. If you're interested in my other works, feel free to hit up my profile! Thanks for taking the time to read it!
> 
> BYEEEE!


End file.
